Sunday, July 26, 2009

I have a crap load of stuff on my plate right now and worked this weekend on getting mentally prepared. So...game on. I did take a little break though, knowing chaos would be the norm for awhile. Mom and I went to see a movie, The Ugly Truth. I love Gerald Butler. It was good...but not a movie I would've gone to see with my mom. I was a bit embarrassed because the 'F' word was used quite frequently. And ALOT of sexual references. It was a little too sexual for me and not one I'll be waiting for to come out on DVD.

I've been a good girl this weekend and made a game plan for this week. The only thing I didn't get done was a beta read for a crit partner. I hate not being able to concentrate and put my full attention on my crits, so I kept having to stop every other page. Finishing the beta read is first on my list.

Okay. I DO NOT want to put my writing on the backburner just because the family restaurant and website is back on my plate, front and center. School will be starting soon and I'll have to take the oldest to and from until he gets his license, and I homeschool our 6 yo. Let's see how far I can get before I have a mental breakdown. ;) We keep going back and forth on what type of restaurant we should do. We LOVE burgers and barbeque, but there are quite a few in town. We thought maybe a specialty burger joint could compete if we looked around us and tried to shake things up a bit. But...there are only two specialty sweet shops. And I KNOW we can more than compete with them.

So with hubster gone all week, mom and I were able to hook up the stove. We still have to pull the sheetrock off and replace the wall in the kitchen...but I'm so sick of living without a way to cook. There's only so many things you can bake in a roaster oven. This next week we'll work on remodeling and recipes. I'll also work more on developing the website. As soon as I can get more pages built, I'll upload it and see what you guys think so far.

I also have to finalize a name for the sweet shop. The website name is The Velvet Cowgirl. We'll use that name if we ever decide to open a brick and mortar store in the building. At least now I can slowly build a product line. So what about...

Cowgirl Cupcakes (I thought of this because we could also sell my candles and bath products, The Velvet Cowgirl, in the store.) or.... The Main Cupcake. Our building is on Main Street and I thought The Main Cupcake was a simple play on words. I've got to finalize a menu and name so I can incorporate the business, apply for federal id number and an Oklahoma resale certificate. We'll offer a HUGE variety of homemade cupcakes, sweets and breads. We'll have sandwiches, a hot potato bar and a salad bar.

My writing?! I can't give up my passion. Not even among all this organized chaos. I'm trying to get away from the research heaven hole I've been sucked into and get into writing mode. So today I'll take an hour to begin my prep plotting work. I've got a notebook started and will work on the central conflict. My heroine has a GMC and I've gotten an idea about my hero. They both want the same thing, but for different reasons. Someone will have to lose. Maybe they'll both learn something along the way as they work toward a resolution. I've even had a thought about the black moment which will put my heroine in danger.

I've moved my printer upstairs and will have to wait until hubster gets home to get my desk up here. It's massive and impossible to move!! Poor hubster. He gets to come home from work to finish out the sheetrock, put in two windows and help me move furniture so we can tape and texture. I should've taken a before picture. People are really amazed at what we've accomplished so far. We've carved an apartment out of a space that was 6736 sq. ft down to about 2500 sq. feet. So we have a TON of storage. *sigh* Which is another task for another day. We'll have to sort through all of our crap on the 3rd floor and repack the stuff we'll keep. Hopefully by Christmas we can have the 3rd floor cleared out and start remodeling it. Our long term goal is to have mom up on the 4th floor in her own little apartment of 3368 sq. ft. Then the staircase down to our apartment on the 3rd floor will have 3368 sq. ft for a family living room, game room and kitchen. Then the other side of the 3rd floor will be 3368 sq. ft of bedrooms and bathrooms. What I love the most about the 3rd floor...old wood floors, high ceilings and brick walls. When my oldest is ready to move out...the 2nd floor will be ready for him and he'll have his own apartment. The good thing....the restaurant and shop will be down on the 1rst floor and in the building next door that is connected. We won't even have to drive to work. And my oldest is at the right age to start working. He's not excited about working in a "cupcake" shop. But he'll be good about the baking and prep work.

Sorry. Didn't mean to barrage you with my chaos. LOL. ;) Off to work I go...

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

I've been swamped with life. LOL. Seriously. I've been sucked completely into historical research heaven. Facebook. Sickness. Remodeling. Children actually wanting me to take care of them. Nephews needing adult supervision. A retail website needing to be designed for my bath and body products. A restaurant business plan to be written. Hmmmm. Give me a minute. I'm sure I can come up with plenty more. I thought I'd check in with yous guys and get some human interaction. Did I tell you that we've decided to add a sweet shop to the retail website? Meaning I've got to come up with recipes and ideas as to what we'll sell online.

*sigh*

Where does my writing come into the picture? It hasn't. Not one word. But please...do NOT tell my novel bootcamp instructor. She'll make me do pushups. LOL. I've got my nephews for two days a week until school starts. OMG. It seriously needs to hurry. I'm pretty thankful at this point that we stopped at 2 kids. LOL. Right now I've got two 6 yo's and a 4 yo running around in circles having Star Wars battles with action figures. My 15 yo is pretty independent except for the taxi duties. My mom is pretty good about helping me in that regard.

Hubby left yesterday to go back to work and if I can get the kiddos to bed early....bwahaha, like that'll happen...I'm hoping to get some words on paper. My crit group is working on a July challenge and in cahoots with Candace Havens Writing Game challenge. I think todays required word count was 1142. Can I do that tonight....????

Monday, July 06, 2009

Hope you all had a fun but safe holiday weekend?! We had a cookout and let the little one do a few of the safer fireworks. Nothing exciting but we were all together, healthy and happy, and so very thankful for the men and women who fight for our country.

Hubby is home and has been trying to get some remodeling done before he has to go back to work on Tuesday. The new airconditioner works like a dream. *sigh* We'll get the rest of our belongings moved back upstairs and get settled in before I try to start putting texture on the walls and painting. Of course this means we need a new bedspread for our bedroom. Darn. LOL.

Hopefully when hubby leaves tomorrow I can get back to my writing. I'm getting pretty anxious and really want to start the chapter. I've had a few days away from it and think I may know where I want the story to begin. I had so much fun looking up tribal records from 1818 and finally settled on the main character's names. I think I'll use today to start character charts. I'd love to visit the historical society this week and check out a few books from the library for reference. My short term goal is to start the rough draft.

About Me

Wife, Mom and romance writer. I love spending time with my beautiful family and cooking out with friends. We have a mini farm going on with horses, chickens, Blue Heelers and Boxers. We're volunteers for the local Red Dirt Boxer Rescue. We foster Boxers until we can find loving furever homes. Please spay and neuter your pets!